It's that time of the year again - time for our classic MA Virgin Reviews Challenge! First hosted almost a decade ago, the Virgin Reviews Challenge is a time-honored tradition among our reviewers here. Every winter and every summer reviewers are encouraged to spend a week writing and submitting as many quality reviews as possible... with the aim to focus on albums with no reviews so far (ie. virgin albums). This challenge is meant to encourage people to make reviews for albums that don't have any! Every day, the reviews submitted and accepted are tallied, so that participants can see how they compare with one another and whether or not, altogether, we've been able to surpass previous challenges' totals.

Here’s the week for the challenge: from Friday December 18th @ 12:00AM EST to Thursday December 24th @ 11:59PM EST.

The magic number to beat is 609. That was set in May 2009. It's high but we can beat it.The second magic number to beat is 384. That was the total from December last year!

The MA Reviews Challenge Rules

1. The focus is on virgin albums. The only albums that count are those that had zero reviews prior to the challenge.

2. Every release listed on the main site is valid including singles, videos, boxed sets and so on. However please try to refrain from mass reviewing singles for this challenge. That's lame.

3. Eligible releases have to be virgins at the beginning of the challenge. Multiple people can review the same virgin. There’s no bonus for getting to it first, so no need to hurry – focus on quality instead.

4. Value quality over quantity! Everyone is welcome to participate, but keep in mind that the mods won't be more lenient during the challenge.

5. The challenge abides by the default time of the site (Eastern Standard time or GMT-5). Please ensure that you are posting your review(s) within the right time frame in order for them to count.

6. The total number of reviews written will be tallied once a day (under normal circumstances). Derigin (myself) will kindly do the tallying as soon as possible. Please don't nag him (me).

7. Stay cordial and respectful with one another. Don't hijack this thread with petty arguments or whining. Remember that the mods are watching (and waiting)...

8. The only reward is our eternal appreciation. The only prize is knowing that there is an album that previously didn't get any love... that now has a review to call its own.

This time we're gonna try something new, especially given the timing this year. I'm not sure how well this will turn out, but hell, might as well give it a try. In addition to the challenge, you can opt-in to the Secret Santa (Satan?) bonus round. In this Secret Satan you will be matched up with another reviewer by yours truly. You will exchange with one another a virgin album for review (explained below) and will commit to reviewing that album for the challenge. I will try to make sure that the matches reflect reviewers' genre preferences, though that is not guarantee. Please continue reading for an explanation how this will work.

1. If you are interested, please contact me through PM on the forum. Please indicate your top three genre preferences. Avoid being too specific.

2. Prior to the start of the challenge I will match individuals up with one another based, as much as possible, on their genre preferences.

3. Once matched, get in contact with one another. You are required to provide a link to the album you want the other person to review.

4. Please keep in mind the following rules for what albums we consider acceptable for this Secret Satan: - It MUST be an album on this site with no reviews at the time it is shared with the other person. - It MUST be available for FREE online and in either a QUALITY DOWNLOAD or QUALITY STREAM. It should be EASY to acquire without using third-party software. - It SHOULD be an album that fits with your genre preferences (and therefore the genre preferences of the other person you're matched with). - Ideally, please avoid sharing your own band's album. There are better avenues for promotion. - It is best to provide a backup album for the person you're matched with just in case they have problems accessing it.

5. Once you receive a link to an album, please review it and submit it during the challenge. That way it will count for this challenge.

6. And, please, remember this is done in good faith. If you get an album you don't want to review, fine, but don't be a party pooper for others.

7. Lastly, if you have any problems with the person you're matched with, let me know. I have spare albums for review just in case it doesn't work out.

I might be able to do some damage again, but I have to go through my stragglers and see how many I have.

_________________

nuclearskull wrote:

Leave a steaming, stinking Rotting Repulsive Rotting Corpse = LIVE YOUNG - DIE FREE and move on to the NEXT form of yourself....or just be a fat Wal-Mart Mcdonalds pc of shit what do I give a fuck what you do.

I don't know if this challenge is directed mostly towards the regulars (going by the replies in this thread I'd reckon it is), but I think I would like to at least try to participate. So far I've managed to write two reviews in two months, so expect one fourth of a review.

Won't have a lot of time to participate in this one (exams and then going to my girlfriend's hometown to meet her family), but probably down for the Secret Satan. The review swaps I've done with MutantClannfear and Bastardhead were really fun. Seems like a great idea to make the challenge more interesting.

I'd like to see a good turnout this time around. The last few challenges were a lot of fun. I got fourth last challenge, so I'd like to move up to the top three this time. We'll see what happens, though.

One of the best parts of this is creating the list of virgins knock out.

Edit: Having Christmas Eve and Christmas day as part of this week will definitely hinder my output, but I'm still shooting for 25-30.

I've got a mountain of albums I've wanted to review for quite some time, it's just a matter of not spewing out quantity over quality as you said tomcat, and I've had ideas for several of these albums running through my head for years. I'm actually really excited to try this for the first time.

_________________

lord_ghengis wrote:

Don't Sing. Don't Eat. Stop Exist.The So Far, So Good, So What of our generation.

I will probably post one or two that week then, just for old times sake! Lord knows I have enough crap laying around without reviews.

Additionally, a handful of Contaminated Tones releases are virgins so if anyone would like a promo of any of my releases for review, please don't hesitate to PM or Email me: orion_metalhead@hotmail.com.

I'm in again. Like others the time is a bit on the inconvenient side but I'll do my best. Also down for the secret satan santa.

Edit: for those of us who for whatever reason (be it technological ineptitude or just personal preference) don't do a whole lot of streaming could some examples of good sites to look for the albums we'll be wanting to swap be provided? I know there's bandcamp but beyond that I'm kinda in the dark.

_________________Man is truly a wretched thing, and the forest is committed to expunging him from existence.

Remember you need to message Derigin if you want to get in the SS thing.

EDIT: Yeah I can't contribute like last year, or even close really. I have maybe 3-5 I can pitch in.

_________________

nuclearskull wrote:

Leave a steaming, stinking Rotting Repulsive Rotting Corpse = LIVE YOUNG - DIE FREE and move on to the NEXT form of yourself....or just be a fat Wal-Mart Mcdonalds pc of shit what do I give a fuck what you do.

Bit of a dumb question perhaps, but I've not reviewed before...is there a list someplace of albums without reviews? Can this be generated through any of the search tools? And I guess it's only those without reviews on 18th Dec?

Pipin_Took, I just look through the archives at the albums/bands I have available and see what hasn't been reviewed yet. I then make a huge list, because someone always writes a few of them between the time I make a list and the time for the challenge. That way I have a stack of virgins ready to go when the clock strikes. If there was a list of unreviewed albums, it would dwarf the list of reviewed albums by a huge margin.

If you are going to do more than one or two singles, I strongly suggest you do the same. Remember, quality over quantity. One of the earlier review challenges had people racking up close to 100, but the quality wasn't really there. Since the standard has increased across the board since then, matching that number would be damn hard. Let's see if we can beat last December's total, although iamntbatman and myself made up about 35% of it lmao and I don't think either of us will be contributing that much.

_________________

nuclearskull wrote:

Leave a steaming, stinking Rotting Repulsive Rotting Corpse = LIVE YOUNG - DIE FREE and move on to the NEXT form of yourself....or just be a fat Wal-Mart Mcdonalds pc of shit what do I give a fuck what you do.